‘High-risk move’: Political consultant weighs Wilson’s endorsement gamble against powerful WA Democrats

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has broken with Democratic tradition by endorsing progressive challengers over two veteran state lawmakers, announcing that she will back progressive activist Hannah Sabio-Howell in her challenge to Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen and Ron Davis in his bid to unseat longtime state Rep. Gerry Pollet.

Sandeep Kaushik, a longtime Seattle political consultant, spoke about what Wilson’s endorsement signals to Olympia and how it could affect the city’s good standing if Sabio-Howell’s bid falls short.

“Apparently, she called him, and they talked on a Saturday. She told him she was endorsing his opponent, a 30-year-old running to his left, Hannah Sabio-Howell,” Kaushik said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “She comes out of the kind of labor-affiliated activism, left organization. It’s a big, splashy, I would say high-risk move on the mayor’s part. It’s not just that she’s endorsed against two veteran Seattle Democratic legislators, but Jamie Pedersen is the Senate Majority Leader.

“He is one of the most powerful political people in Washington,” Kaushik continued. “He’s also a really, really strong progressive. In this last legislative session, he was the key architect of the millionaire’s tax. He’s not like some kind of squishy centrist. So to endorse against a kind of strong progressive who’s very powerful at Olympia, that’s just putting her own sort of political reputation on the line, but also the city’s relationship with Olympia. If he wins, there’s gonna have to be some repair work.”

Strategy has a recent precedent, but Wilson’s standing raises doubts

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a similar endorsement in his city before Wilson did, but Kaushik doubts Wilson’s standing with voters gives her the same influence.

“Wilson’s making a kind of similar play here, but we don’t know whether it’s going to work or not,” he said. “She won last year, but she won by 2,000 votes with a very close, very divided mayor’s race, and she hasn’t had the smoothest ride in the first six months. She’s had some bumps on the road. There’s a real question among politicos right now about how much impact these endorsements are really going to have, and whether she’s going to come out ahead on this?”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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